Spicy Shrimp Tacos with Mango Salsa

Lightly spiced, quick-sauteed shrimp pairs perfectly with a vibrant, mango salsa with hints of lime, garlic, jalepeno, and cilantro and then topped with a cool, creamy avocado lime sour cream. This 30 minute meal is perfect for a weeknight and the decadent, tropical flavors are a welcome change from winter comfort food.

Taco Tuesday is alive and well at my house, although it doesn’t always happen on a Tuesday. I love Tacos because the flavor combinations are endless. They are usually quick and easy, and quite frankly, my youngest son the picky redhead, likes them. Double bonus. Despite the ‘spicy’ in the title, these are kid friendly, sweet and incredibly fresh tasting, and such a welcome change at the end of all the winter produce.

How to make Spicy Shrimp Tacos with Mango Salsa

Stir your raw, peeled, and deveined shrimp together with a little olive oil, chipotle chili powder, smoked paprika, onion powder, and black pepper. Let it sit on the counter while you prepare the salsa.

The salsa is primarily a ripe mango with smaller amounts of finely chopped jalapeno without the ribs and seeds, green onion, red bell pepper, garlic clove, cilantro, a little honey, and a sprinkle of salt. Stir this together in a small mixing bowl.

If you prefer more heat in your salsa, feel free to include the ribs and/or jalapeno seeds.

The avocado lime sour cream is sour cream, half of an avocado, lime juice, salt, and pepper and blended by using a immersion blender, traditional blender, or even just a fine chop and fork on the avocado and stirring. This is the same sauce I love on my Pork Belly Tacos.

How to cut up a Mango

If you haven’t worked with mangoes before, they can look rather intimidating, but they are really very easy to eat, and absolutely delicious. They start to come into season in February/March, depending on where they originate.

Begin by using a vegetable peeler or paring knife to remove the outer skin.

Mangos have a seed inside of them shaped like a pumpkin seed. It is oval, but flat on both sides. Run your knife down both flat sides of the seed to remove that largest pieces of the mango first.

Then, use your knife to cut away any of the smaller bits around the remainder of the seed. After that, simply finely chop the pieces for the salsa.

How to choose a mango

Mangos come in a variety of multihued colors froma vibrant green, yellow, to red. The color of the mango does not determine the ripeness. Ripeness can be judged by feel. Just like a peach, a hard mango will be crunchy and not quite ripe. The degree of softness will determine how ripe and juicy your mango will be. When in doubt, pretend you are picking a peach by the feel.

If only hard mangoes are available at your grocery store, let them sit on the counter for a few days in a brown paper bad until they ripens.

After your salsa is stirred together, preheat a non-stick, large frying pan and then add a little olive oil. Add the shrimp, trying to cook them in a single layer. Salt the shrimp, and do not stir until the bottoms of the shrimp are no longer translucent, only one to two minutes.

Stir/flip the shrimp over and cook just one to two minutes more, just until they are opaque.

If you are serving your shrimp from the fry pan, keep in mind that they will continue to cook up as they sit, even if it’s only for a few minutes and adjust your cook time accordingly. The only way this taco will be less then perfect, is to overcook your shrimp until they are rubbery.

Toast tortillas on a griddle if desired. Garnish with the Avocado Lime Sour Cream and cilantro leaves. Enjoy!

Spicy Shrimp Tacos with Mango Salsa

Lightly spiced, quick-sauteed shrimp pairs perfectly with a vibrant, mango salsa with hints of lime, garlic, jalapeno, and cilantro and then topped with a cool, creamy avocado lime sour cream.

Course Dinner, Main Course

Cuisine American, Mexican

Keyword Spicy Shrimp Tacos with Mango Salsa

Prep Time15minutes

Cook Time5minutes

Total Time20minutes

Servings8

Calories239kcal

AuthorJennifer Grissom

Ingredients

Shrimp

2.25raw shrimp, peeled and deveineduse shrimp size of choice

2tablespoonsolive oil, divided

1/2teaspoonchipotle chili powder

1/2teaspoonsmoked paprika

1/2teaspoononion powder

1/4teaspoonblack pepper

1/2teaspoonkosher salt

Mango Salsa

1 1/2cupmango, diced

3green onions, sliced thin

2tablespoonslime juicejuice of 1 lime

1jalepeno, minced with ribs and seeds removed

3tablespoonsfresh cilantro, chopped

1clovegarlic, finely minced

1/4cupred sweet bell pepper, diced

1tablespoonhoney

1/4teaspoonkosher salt

Avocado Lime Sour Cream

1/2avocado, removed from skin

1/2cupsour cream

1/4cupcilantro, fresh

1tablespoonlime juice, fresh squeezed

1/4teaspoonkosher salt

1/4teaspoonblack pepper, fresh ground

Other

tortillas of choice

1limecut into wedges for squeezing

cilantro and/or jalepeno rings for ganish

Instructions

Stir the raw, peeled, and deveined shrimp together with 1 tablespoon olive oil, chipotle chili powder, smoked paprika, onion powder, and black pepper. Let it sit on the counter while you prepare the salsa. The salt for the shrimp is not added until it is being cooked in the skillet.

After dicing mango salsa ingredients, stir together into a medium mixing bowl and set aside. See photo above for how to cut a mango.

Prepare the avocado lime sour cream using either an immersion blender, traditional blender, or finely mincing ingredients and stirring together until smooth.

Preheat a large non-stick skillet or fry pan over a high heat.

Add 1 tablespoon olive oil to hot pan.

Add the shrimp in a single layer. Salt the shrimp, and do not stir until the bottoms of the shrimp are no longer translucent, only one to two minutes. See photo above.

Stir/flip the shrimp and continue cooking just until the shrimp are no longer translucent, only 1-2 additional minutes. Immediately remove from heat and preferably from the hot pan.

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